Bilateral trade between the emirate of Sharjah and China could grow by 11 percent during 2014 to reach US$5 billion (AED 18b) according to Sultan Abdullah bin Hadda Al Suwaidi, Chairman of Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD). Trade between Sharjah and China has grown sharply over the past few years, and is already five times the level of trade in 2010.

The SEDD chairman made the comments during a trade delegation visit from China’s coastal province of Shandong. Both China and Sharjah have ramped up trade and investment promotion activity, with an increased number of trade delegations, participations in trade events and business initiatives.

The third largest economy in the world, after the European Union and the United States, China’s exports constitute 30% of its GDP with US$2.21 trillion (AED 8.1t) worth of goods and services being exported during 2013. Major exports include electromechanical products, clothing, textiles, footwear, furniture, plastic products, bags, toys and high tech products.

Overall, the United Arab Emirates registered US$46 billion (AED 169b) of bilateral trade with China in 2013 and according to diplomatic sources, it expects a jump of up to 30 percent in bilateral trade with China by 2015.

In April of this year, a group of more than 16,000 Chinese businessmen, tourism delegates, journalists, government officials and individual tourists visited Sharjah in cooperation with one of the United Arab Emirates’ leading in-bound tour operators.

There are already more than 4,000 Chinese companies with a presence in the UAE market.